One With the Force
by Count Mallet
Summary: AU One-shot. After her grave injuries and self-sacrifice on Felucia, Shaak Ti becomes one with the Force and her initial afterlife experiences surprise her. Rated K-plus for death and afterlife references. [S9-F6-O5]


One With the Force

**Story Code:** S9-O5-F6

**Synopsis:** After her grave injuries and self-sacrifice on Felucia, Shaak Ti becomes one with the Force and the initial experiences surprise here. My sixth one-shot.

Constructive feedback is always welcome – and encouraged – even if you dislike anything. All flames are silently forwarded to Mustafar.

**Rating:** Using the Fiction Ratings system, I've chosen to rate this story K-Plus (K+) since it explores Shaak Ti's death.

**Disclaimers:** George Lucas / LucasFilms LTD likely own all Star Wars references and concepts.

**Pre-Story Comments:** I've always wondered what happens when a Jedi "becomes one with the Force." Similarly, I've contemplated what kind of afterlife beliefs the Togruta hold. This story combines the two and offers one such possibility that addresses these questions. This was a fun story to write and I hope you enjoy reading it.

In keeping with my convention to enclose words spoken in a foreign language with square brackets, I will do this to indicate a passage spoken in Togruti.

**Initial Posting Date:** 2012-04-16. **Last Revised:** 2012-04-16.

# # #

Realizing her injuries at the hands of Starkiller were too serious for her to continue, Shaak Ti closed her eyes and flung herself into Felucia's Ancient Abyss. Before she entered the large, gaping maw of the sarlacc, she felt herself ravaged with more Force lightning from Starkiller.

From there, she felt everything around her was weirder.

She then saw nothing. It appeared she was blinded by the brightest light she could possibly think of. Additionally, it felt as if time was moving slowly and she was in slow motion. After a while, time appeared to resume as normal and she could see. However, she wasn't prepared for what she now saw.

Instead of the minimal clothing she had worn during her stay on Felucia ever since the great Jedi Purge, she was now wearing what used to be her traditional Jedi apparel, except for her sandals as she was now totally barefoot. As she looked more at herself, she was no longer bloodied and scraped. However, her body, except for her lekku, seemed to be covered in bruises, some of which were a bit unsightly.

As she felt her body being raised, her confusion remained.

"_What's happening to me?"_ she wondered to herself. _"Surely, I'm not alive, but where am I going?"_

As she continued her ascent higher and higher, it seemed as if she was going to approach a group of people as based on her enhanced Togruta vision (and other senses for that matter). In spite of that, she was startled when she heard a voice come from out of nowhere and from along side her.

"Koh-to-ya, Master Ti."

Even before she regained her wits and turned around, she knew who had greeted her. "Master Plo." she said in simple acknowledgment.

"It is good to see you at last, Shaak," the Kel Dorian said as they looked at each other.

"Are we on a first name basis now?" Shaak Ti asked curiously.

"The first thing you'll learn is that when you become one with the Force, rank and title are no longer significant. We are all Jedi who have moved on to a higher place."

"Is that so?" Shaak Ti mused, still not sure of what really happened, or what to expect.

"So, what happened?" Plo asked. It was a bit of a custom to ask fellow Jedi about their final moments.

Shaak Ti looked away. Her species, the Togruta, was known for its warriors. But in her final moments, she felt anything but a warrior.

"Vader sent his assassin. I thought I could handle him, but he was too powerful." Shaak Ti then sighed in defeat. "I was injured far too gravely to continue. I went to sacrifice myself in the Ancient Abyss, but I ended up here." She looked at her colleague, Plo Koon. It appeared he had bruises all over his face at the very least.

"I became one at the very beginning. I was shot down at Cato Nemoidia. I salute you for surviving as long as you did."

Shaak was speechless. She lived in exile, hardly an honorable experience.

"Shaak, please don't worry. There is no place – or need – for shame here."

She blinked her black eyes and took another deep breath. She seemed astonished to know it didn't hurt or feel labored any more.

"Thank you, Plo," she answered calmly. "This will take some getting used to."

Before either could react, Shaak Ti felt herself being moved away from her colleague. Before she was taken too far away, she asked, "Where am I going now?"

Plo called out to her in reply. "There is another place you need to go to for a brief moment. I will see you again soon, I promise you."

Plo's voice faded out and he was soon out of sight. _"So, what's happening now?"_ Shaak Ti asked herself.

Soon, she received her answer. She was now in a place that seemed to consist mostly, if not entirely, of various Togruta. Various aged individuals of different tribes were present. Some chose to interact with one another, and others seemed to keep to themselves, which seemed odd for a people known for their tendency to thrive in groups.

She looked around to see if **anyone** seemed familiar. But everyone in close proximity had differing skin colors, or far different facial markings than her own. She thought she was going to leap into what seemed to be the sky as she felt someone tap her shoulder, causing a rather powerful ripple pulsate through her montrals and the rest of her body.

"Excuse me?" a male voice asked.

She turned around and looked at the man. He didn't seem familiar at first glance. She even found herself thinking he was nondescript. She looked carefully at the man again. His red skin seemed a bit faded with age. His face and limbs seemed wrinkled. Truly he had liven a long life, perhaps even 100 or more standard years. She looked closer and noticed the creases in his face, along with both an akul tooth necklace and a headdress. It was only when she looked into his eyes, she felt herself being jolted and taking closer notice. His large white patches around his eyes caught her attention, along with a couple of stray red marks above each eye.

"_Can it really be?"_ she thought to herself. _"But how could I know for sure?"_ In spite of her doubts, she decided to see if her suspicions were correct. But all she could do is give a very faint whisper of "Daddy?"

The man looked at her before smiling and nodding. "It is you, dear Shaak." he stated proudly. Before she could even process the fact that she had been reunited with her father, her turned and got the attention of another Togruta.

"We have a visitor," he said as he poked the other's arm. Before she even turned around, Shaak Ti knew this had to be her mother. Her rear head-tail was just as thick as her own where it met the base of her skull. _"So that's why mine is thicker than usual."_ she thought to herself as she almost cracked her first smile since she arrived.

"_Lene!_" the woman exclaimed – the Togruti word for "little one."

« My daughter is here! » she then exclaimed in their native language.

"Mom." Shaak Ti said calmly, unsure of how to address someone she never really knew. She still found herself feeling as if she somehow knew her mom even though this was the first time they had seen each other since Shaak was a newborn.

"Shaak, what's wrong?" her mother asked. Shaak wondered how her mother was able to sense her thoughts as she wasn't Force sensitive as far as she knew.

As her lekku stripes darkened in slight embarrassment, Shaak Ti answered her mother. "Mom, it's just that I've always wondered why my rear lek was so large." She stifled a grin and a giggle before adding "and now I know."

"Well," her mother replied, "I can't help that you inherited that, but I am pleased to see you grew up to be and impressive woman and quite the warrior your father and I hoped you would... twice over in fact."

"I don't understand, mom." Shaak Ti answered with confusion.

Her father chimed in. "Shaak, when you were taken to be taught as a Jedi, we knew you'd be a great Jedi warrior some day. It's pleasing to see we were right. But what makes me more proud of my little girl is seeing you're a warrior by our standards." He pointed to her forehead at her akul-tooth headdress.

"Oh, that." Shaak Ti replied. "Once I completed my training and became a Jedi, I was given permission to go to Shili. I wanted to complete our rite of passage to prove that even as part of a group, I could accomplish goals on my own as well."

Her parents seemed to be taken in great pride upon hearing their daughter's story so far.

"It's so elegant." her mother said as she looked at her daughter's headdress in more detail now. "I'm so proud of you, Shaak. You must have been quite the impressive Jedi." her mother declared.

Shaak Ti hung her head in shame again as she thought of the events that reminded her her path as Jedi was far from perfect.

"I had my less than ideal moments, mom." She sighed again before continuing. "I attempted to teach two others by training them on Shili and how to be resourceful warriors. Neither of them survived long after their training was over." Before her mom could respond, Shaak Ti continued. "I died only because I wasn't powerful enough to stop the assassin sent to kill me." Despite never showing much emotion as a Jedi, Shaak Ti was a bit shocked when she felt a single tear running down her cheek.

Her father put a hand gently on her shoulder. "We all have our shortcomings," he told her reassuringly. "You mother and I are no exception." He pointed to a scar on his right arm. "I got this from an akul that I missed with my last arrow. Thank the stars the other hunters were able to subdue it before it could injure me worse." Her mother added in her own embarrassing moment as she pointed at her nose.

"It never did heal completely, even though we had one of the best healers in the area." she announced.

"What happened, mom?" Shaak Ti asked very curiously.

"I captured a thimiar and it turned and bit me square on my nose before I could kill it." Her lekku stripes darkened as she admitted the truth.

Her father offered more encouragement. "Shaak, in spite of your own shortcomings, you've proven yourself as a warrior worthy enough to earn your spot in the Great Afterlife."

Shaak Ti finally smiled but the reunion with her parents was interrupted.

"Master Ti?" a young voice called. She looked and noticed a Togruta youngling looking up at her. She was shocked to see it was Ashla, the youngling who had been training with the Bear Clan before Palpatine executed Order 66.

"Ashla, what are you doing here."

The young girl looked saddened by the question. "I'm sorry, Master." she replied sorrowfully. "He was too strong for us."

It was Shaak Ti's turn to offer encouragement. "I understand. It's OK. I was just surprised to see you **here**. I thought the Great Afterlife was just for warriors."

"Perhaps she's here because she never got the chance, and deserved a benefit of the doubt since she was training with you." her father suggested.

"Perhaps." Shaak Ti replied before she felt herself being slowly pulled away again.

"Ashla, have you found any family here?" Shaak Ti asked the youngling.

"Not yet." she replied dejectedly.

"Well, I have to go for now, so maybe you can stay with my parents for now. I bet they'd love to hear more about you." Her parents nodded in agreement, much to her pleasure.

"OK!" Ashla said excitedly.

"Shaak, we love you. I hope we see you again soon and hear more about you." her parents said together.

"Well, I think I have plenty of time now."Shaak Ti mused aloud as she was taken back to where she came from.

Plo Koon was there to welcome her back.

"So, how did it go?" He asked his colleague.

"I met my parents. For us never knowing each other, they were so impressed with me, and so proud. I didn't know what to think."

"You're an impressive Jedi, Shaak. They have every right to be proud of you." He announced with a hint of pride in his own voice.

"Will I see them again soon? I know they're dying to hear more." She stopped herself. "That probably wasn't the best thing to say," she realized after thinking about the comment.

"It's OK, Shaak," Plo assured her. "And yes, you will have plenty of time to be part of your own afterlife and share time with them." Shaak smiled upon hearing the good news, a smile big enough to reveal the tips of her sharp canine teeth.

"So, what happens now?" She asked, unsure of what would come next.

Plo took her hand. "Join us, we've been waiting for you."

The two Jedi Masters walked hand in hand as he looked forward to reintroducing her to the rest of her colleagues that were now one with the Force.

# # #


End file.
